-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- An estimated 13,000 Congolese civilians threatened by fierce fighting and gruesome attacks have fled to neighboring Uganda over the past two days and more are expected , the United Nations ' refugee agency said in a news release Thursday .

Congolese Anosiate Nyirahabineza holds her son Jeremiah in Kampala , Uganda , in June .

The agency said the people fled from villages in the besieged province of North Kivu , in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo , where fighting between rebels and government troops has prompted the displacement of 250,000 people since August .

The staff of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in the southwestern Uganda town of Ishasha said the people crossed into Uganda from Congo 's Rutshuru district .

Since August , about 27,000 civilians have escaped to Uganda , which now hosts more than 150,000 refugees from countries in the region .

The U.N. agency said the latest refugees are reporting many attacks and atrocities .

It quoted a 25-year-old named Daudi , who said , `` The assailants killed everybody in my village . They took the young boys with them and killed all the rest of the population . It 's a miracle that my wife and I managed to escape . ''

He said one of his two children was separated from the family and it is not known where he is .

Another villager said rebels who attacked his village `` killed all the women , even pregnant women , '' the U.N. agency said .

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13,000 Congolese have fled into Uganda in past two days , U.N. says

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Refugees report massacres , atrocities in their villages by rebels

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Neighboring Uganda now hosts some 150,000 refugees from countries in the region